


Sareureuk

by RennieOnIceCream (Hitsugi_Zirkus)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-09-03 03:18:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8694328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hitsugi_Zirkus/pseuds/RennieOnIceCream
Summary: Slowly but surely, the ice-gray facade of being “strangers” and even “coach and skater” melted away between them before they knew it. In which Yuuri’s over-practice takes a toll on his feet and Viktor worriedly gives some aftercare.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little thing I wrote up after episode 8 except...significantly less erotic (I can look at so many things with a straight face yet every time I see Viktor kissing Yuuri's skate, I GET SO EMBARRASSED, I DON'T KNOW WHY?? Just thinking of it I want to bury my face in my pillow jebgekrjg).
> 
> "Sareureuk" is a Korean word that "describes the sound and the motion of snowflakes slowly melting in a warmer temperature or under the morning sunshine".

On the ice, Yuuri glided far above the world.

The ice lifted him to his feet and he spun and jumped and sailed in the moonlit mist rolling through the skies. He was weightless, floating to a place where nothing else reached him but the music that flowed through his body. Skating was the closest Yuuri had ever felt to being free; it was where he could skate away from the noise of the outside world, literally.

It was so easy to forget that his feet were still planted on the ground.

In the middle of one practice, Yuuri’s world of magic mist and music shattered when his foot burst into pain after a jump. He stumbled badly on the landing, enough that he couldn’t recover from it as he landed down to the cold, solid ice.

Viktor skated over right away, offering a hand out to help Yuuri up. “Yikes, that was a nasty fall. Are you alright? You didn’t sprain anything, did you?”

“No, no, nothing like that.” Yuuri didn’t take Viktor’s hand, his breath that he left behind several loops ago trying to catch up with him. He sat up, his elbow a little sore from landing on it when his hand gave out, but he was sure it was fine. Yuuri did a quick self-maintenance check for anything bad. Finding nothing, he finally grasped Viktor’s hand and hoisted himself up.

As soon as he got up, he winced, pressure throbbing in his skates as his weight was shifted to his feet. He wobbled, skates nearly giving out and he clung to Viktor’s arms, clutching the cloth of his long-sleeve shirt.

“Whoa, there! Are you _sure_ that you’re not injured?” Viktor supported Yuuri with surprisingly strong arms. “Come, let’s sit down for a break.”

“But I want to stay on the ice.” Yuuri looked mournfully down at the criss-cross of skate marks on the rink’s cold surface. He followed them with his eyes as if that would get his body moving again to that floaty, dreamy place where he skated.

Viktor made a disagreeing sound and curled his arm under Yuuri’s to support him. “I’m your coach, so you should listen to me like a good boy, yeah?” He booped Yuuri on the nose with his finger and skated him to the rink’s exit. He helped Yuuri put his skate guards back on and set him down on one of the cushioned benches.

“There we go. I’ll go get you your water bottle, so you just rest up here for a sec for me, okay?” Viktor smiled, and there was no way Yuuri could say no, especially when Viktor asked like that -- “ _for me_.” 

Cheeks stinging lightly with heat, Yuuri nodded. He took a deep, relaxing breath as Viktor retreated to the other end of the rink where Yuuri had left his water bottle. The pounding of his pulse in his feet caught Yuuri’s attention and he leaned down to start unlacing his boots. Even if it was a short break, maybe if he just rubbed his feet a little and gave them a stretch, he could get back on the ice with no worries.

He set one of his skates to the side and slid off his sock too when Viktor came back. Both of them looked at Yuuri’s foot with wide eyes.

When it came to skating, Yuuri’s feet sometimes got marked up by his skates, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. It just came with the practice. But Yuuri’s foot now didn’t have the normal blotched red marks, but also bruised a slight purple, with blisters bleeding raw near the ball of his foot.

“Yuuri, take off your other skate,” Viktor said evenly, putting the bottle on the bench.

Yuuri did as he was told, slipping his boot and sock off. His other foot was in a similar state of abuse with some swelling, and the beginning of blisters around the heel too. Yuuri bit at his bottom lip, feeling the pain throbbing on his exhausted feet.

“I’ve been overworking you,” Viktor said, voice quiet. “That’s enough practice for today. And tomorrow, you’ll take the day off to rest.” He crouched down, taking Yuuri’s right foot for him to further examine himself, checking for any dangerous swelling or pains. The firm press of Viktor’s thumb brought a weird aching relief when he kneaded a sore spot.

Yuuri’s hands curled on the bench. “But I have to practice, we’re leaving for the China competition... I have to rehearse the programs as much as I can.” _Because what if I mess up again? I want to at least be able to say that I practiced all I could. I want to say that I didn't take my time with you for granted._

“No,” Viktor said, more firm than Yuuri had ever heard him. “Many skaters mess up and permanently injure themselves by pushing their body too hard. You've gone this long without a serious injury and you're not going to get one now. You’ll rest and we’ll pick up from there." The furrow of his brow softened slightly as he gazed up at Yuuri's no doubt troubled face. "Don’t worry, Yuuri. There’s still time, and as you can see, you’ve been performing very well.”

There was no point in arguing. Yuuri knew Viktor’s reasoning was sound. And while Yuuri luckily hadn’t twisted his ankle or worse, he knew he could hurt himself by going any longer than this. He’d be fine after a little soak in the onsen and applying some ointment. For now, he’d listen to Viktor.

Viktor had moved onto examining his other foot, feeling along the ankle and rubbing right at the bottom of the arch. Yuuri let out a quiet groan.

Viktor froze. “Does that hurt?”

“No, it was--” Yuuri caught himself from saying _it felt good_. That would be too weird to say when Viktor looked worried, all attention focused on taking care of Yuuri. He moved his foot out of Viktor’s hold. “Uh, I can rub my own feet for a bit and then we can head back to the inn. Sorry I have to hold you up.”

Confusion creased Viktor’s brow when Yuuri pulled back. His ice-blue eyes watched as Yuuri self-consciously folded in on himself, bringing his foot up to the bench as he rubbed, stretching each of his toes out too. After a moment, Viktor hummed then took Yuuri’s other foot, propping it on his lap and starting to rub it at full earnest.

Yuuri let out a choked yelp, more surprised than in pain by Viktor’s actions. “V-Viktor, I said I could do it.”

“I’m your coach, so I should take care of you, right? Especially if you’re injured,” was all he explained, kneading at Yuuri’s foot with both his thumbs.

“I don’t think coaches go this far…” Embarrassed, Yuuri glanced away. Viktor was a person that did whatever he wanted, so Yuuri was uncertain if he could say anything to fight this -- the most he could come up with was running away, but he probably wouldn’t get far when he was feeling sore.

Viktor hummed in consideration. “I’m not a typical coach though, hmm? Understand how precious you are to me, Yuuri.” His voice lost its usual playfulness halfway through, returning to that quiet seriousness. His head was bowed down too, hair fluttering in front of his face so Yuuri couldn’t see what expression he was making. As far as it looked, Viktor was absorbed in caring for Yuuri, relaxing his muscles of his foot with a heavenly massage that has sighs and groans of appreciation caught in Yuuri’s throat.

“Besides,” Viktor continued, “it’s my fault that you got like this. I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that I might be overworking you or indulging you too much with the quads. Not very coachlike at all.”

Yuuri tilted his head, his chest constricting just a little at the odd note of self-deprecation in Viktor’s tone. In looks and voice, this Viktor was the complete opposite to what Yuuri had seen before -- as a top-class skater and a coach. This vulnerability reminded Yuuri again of who Viktor was -- simply _Viktor_ , himself, a human being who might be wondering if he really was cut-out to be Yuuri’s guidance.

 _That’s ridiculous. You’ve given me so much, poured everything into me and my skating._ _You might not be the most experienced coach or the most perfect one, but you’re still mine._ Yuuri thought how to communicate that to Viktor when his foot was suddenly lifted from Viktor’s lap and brought up to his lips. Gently caressing the heel of Yuuri’s foot, Viktor planted a slow, reverent kiss on each of the bruises and marks, over his foot and along the sole.

Speech finally came all at once. “V-Viktor, oh my god, _what--_ ! D-don’t, please, that’s--! My foot’s all gross and sweaty, what are you _doing_?” A flurry of protests spilled from Yuuri’s lips, yet he was frozen in place, unable to even yank his foot back.

Viktor’s kisses ended right at his ankle, but his hand continued up Yuuri’s leg, tracing up his shin and knee. Weird waves of _something_ crawled up his leg along with the touch, and he was about to squeak for Viktor to stop at his thigh when Viktor straightened out Yuuri’s leg in the air, stretching it out.

And well. This wasn’t what Yuuri expected. In retrospect though, it should’ve been obvious since Viktor had a weird thing for messing with and arranging Yuuri’s limbs into various positions.

“Viktor--”

“Your feet and legs are lovely, Yuuri. You dance with such spellbinding movements because of them, jumping and spinning and stretching them out as if you could start floating away.” Viktor’s cheek pressed against Yuuri’s leg, finally looking up to show his expression -- smiling like a dream and eyes brimming with an emotion that drew Yuuri in; he wasn’t sure if he could plainly call it sensual, but it did seize Yuuri and left him feeling stripped in body and heart somehow, even though Viktor was the one looking vulnerable again.

“If anything happened to you and you couldn’t show the world again such a sight...”

Yuuri finally felt himself relax, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “You’re moving too fast there. My feet are okay. I can still skate for you.” He moved both his legs under Viktor’s arms and drew him in close, embracing Viktor with his legs. Without protest, Viktor accepted the consoling gesture by holding Yuuri too, laying his forehead against Yuuri’s stomach that still retained some stubborn fat to it. At the very least, Yuuri hoped it made a decent pillow.

“You’re -- surprisingly a worrywart, aren’t you?” Yuuri laughed a little. He couldn’t help it, he ran his hand through Viktor’s hair.

Viktor huffed, burying his face into Yuuri’s torso like a pouting child. “Excuse me for caring about my skater.”

Yuuri laughed again, then blushed self-consciously when he realized that it was shaking his stomach. He looked at his bruised feet crossed behind Viktor’s back. “This is my fault too. You don’t get all the credit,” he said. “I really like skating. And the programs you put together for me, I -- I want to skate them forever. It’s easy for me to let go and get lost… It’s not until I stop or fall or my body gets like this do I realize how much I’m overworking myself. I personally think it’s a bit strange, haha -- one moment I’m dancing on the ice like I’m invincible, and the next…”

“That’s not strange. For a skater like Yuuri, that makes perfect sense,” Viktor murmured into his tummy. His words drifted off like there was more, but he remained silent.

Yuuri had nothing to say to that either, so he only hummed in acknowledgment and continued to pet through the soft silk of Viktor’s hair since he hadn’t been asked to stop yet. Ha, Viktor did all that talk of taking care of him, yet Yuuri was the one feeling like he was doing the comforting in the end. Well, he supposed there wasn’t anything wrong with that -- even Viktor Nikiforov lost confidence and worried. Yuuri was starting to see that, little by little.

And anyway, Viktor was warm and solid and _here_ even though he also felt like a dream. Yuuri wanted to indulge in just this closeness for a little bit longer.

Skating with Viktor took him to that misty place, but he brought it to Yuuri right on solid earth, holding him down with an unwavering look as Yuuri danced.

Yuuri tried to refuse Viktor’s help on the walk home, but couldn’t protest when Viktor stubbornly supported him by holding him around the waist, their hips pressing together. And at the inn, through the mist of the hot onsen water that soothed Yuuri’s feet wrapped in bandages and ointment, he laughed when Viktor’s nudged playfully with his under the water.

Even off the ice, he was certain both of them felt weightless.

**Author's Note:**

> I have another fic coming up in just a sec for Yuuri's birthday, so please look forward to that!


End file.
